INTERACTIVE SESSION: ORGANIZATIONS ~MONIlORING IN lHE WORKPLACEThere may be anly 11players an the pitch during amatch, but the Blackburn Ravers Faatball Club in theUK emplays more than 800 peaple. As with any mod-ern organizatíon, camputers are at the heart af run-ning an efficient business. Mast af the club's camput-ers are haused with the administratian department atthe Ewaad Park office, but athers can be faund at theclub's training center and saccer academy.

The c1ub decided to install a saftware product calledSpectar 360, which it abtained fram the Manchester-based campany Snapguard. Accarding to Snapguard'ssales literature, the product enables campany-widemanitaring af emplayee PC and Internet usage.Previously, the c1ubhad tried to introduce an accept-able use palicy (AUP), but initial discussians withemplayees stalled, and the palicy was never imple-mented. Early trials af Spectar 360 shawed that someemplayees were abusing the easygaing nature af thewarkplace to spend mast af their day surfing the Web,using social netwarking sites, and taking up a hugeamaunt afbandwidth for dawnlaads.

Befare afficially implementing the manitaring saft-ware, the AUP was resurrected. It was sent aut as ane-mail attachment and added to the staffhandbaak.The palicy was alsa made part af the terms and candi-tians af emplayment. Understandably, some emplay-ees were annayed at the cancept afbeing watched,but the saftware was installed anyway. Accarding toBen Hayler, seniar systems administratar at BlackburnRovers, Spectar 360 has definitely restared arder,increasing praductivity and reducing activity an nan-business apps.

Reparts provided by Spectar 360 can shaw manag-ers the fallawing: excessive use af Facebook, 'Iwitter;and ather social netwarking sites; visits to adult sitesar shapping sites: use af chat services; the printing arsaving af canfidential infarmatian; and staff lagin andlagaut times. Managers can alsa use the saftware todrill-dawn to laak at patterns of usage, generate screensnapshots, ar even lag individual keystrakes.

The saftware can alsabe used to benefit emplay-ees. For example, because it can lag exact1ywhat anemplayee is doing, the system can help in staff train-ing and troubleshooting, because it is easy to trackexact1ywhat caused a particular problem to accur.

Anather impartant benefit af the saftware is thatit helps the c1ub to stay campliant with the PaymentCard Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard. PCI stan-

dards require access to credit card infarmatian. AsSpectar 360 tracks and recards all data to do with creditcard transactions, the infarmatian can be easily recav-ered.

Hawever, what is the wider view af the manitar-ing af emplayees in the warkplace? Accarding to theCitizens Advice Bureau (a free infarmatian and adviceservice for UK residents), the fallawing are some aftheways that emplayers manitar their emplayees in thewarkplace: recarding the warkplace an CCTV cameras;apening mail ar e-mail; using autamated saftware tocheck e-mail; checking telephane lags ar recardingtelephane calls, checking lags afWeb sites visited; vid-eaing autside the warkplace; getting infarmatian frorncredit reference agencies; and callecting infarmatianfram point-of-sale terminals.

Althaugh this list may laak formidable, there is noargument that the emplayer has a right to ensure thathis ar her emplayees are behaving in a manner that isnat illegal ar harmful to the campany. Hawever, underUK data protectian law the emplayer must ensurethat the manitaring is justified and take inta accauntany negative effects the manitaring may have an staff.Manitaring for the sake af it is nat allawed. Secretmanitaring withaut employees' knawledge is usuallyillegal.

In a case that went befare the Eurapean CaurtafHuman Rights in 2007 (Capeland v the UnitedKingdom), Ms. Copeland, wha was an emplayee afCarmarthenshire Callege, c1aimed that her privacyhad been vialated. She was a personal assistant to theprincipal and alsawarked c1asely with the deputyprincipal, wha instigated manitaring and analysisafher telephane bills, Web sites visited, and e-mailcammunicatian. The deputy principal wanted todetermine whether Capeland was making excessiveuse afthe college's services. The European Caurtruled in her favor, stating that her persanal Internetusage was deemed to be under the definitians af theCanventian for the Protectian af Rights, cavered as"private life." Note that althaugh this case carne tothe caurt in 2007, the manitaring taak place in 1999,prior to the intraductian inta English and Welsh law afthe Regulatian af Investigatary Pawers Act 2000 andthe 'Ielecommunications (Lawful Business Practice)Regulatians 2001, which seek to clarify regulatiansabaut the interceptian af cammunicatians.

180 Part One Organizations, Management, and the Networked Enterprise

The major fault of Carmarthenshire College wasin not having a usage policy in place. Employers andemployees should have an agreed-upon policy as partofthe contract ofemployment that c1arifieswhat isand is not acceptable computer usage in the work-place. The employer can then follow normal disciplin-ary procedures if an employee is using workplaceequipment in a manner that is not permitted in thecontract of emp1oyment.

Whatever the legal situation, it is c1earwhere poten-tial problems can occur in the workp1ace regardinginformation technology use. An e-rnail, once sent,becomes a legally published document that can beproduced as evidence in court cases involving issuesoflibe1, breach of contract, and so on. Most businessesrely on their company data to keep ahead ofthe com-petition. Therefore, the loss, theft, or sabotage of datais potential1y more dangerous than similar prob1emswith hardware. If a stick is lost in a bar parking lot,rep1acing the hardware will cost a few dollars, but if itcontains the cornpany's confidential data, then its losscould put the company out ofbusiness!

Many companies p1acegreat focus on ernployeeproductivity. It is relatively easy to block access to

CASE STUDY QUESTIONS

1. Do you consider the approach taken by BlackburnRovers to be too strict on employees, too lenient,or just right?

2. Consider the five moral dimensions described inthe textoWhich are involved in the case ofCope1and V. the United Kingdom?

3. Consider the following scenario. Your 14-year-oldson attends a soccer academy. While there, he

certain sites (e.g., You'Iube,Facebook, etc.), but a b1an-ket blocking of such sites could cause prob1ems if anemployee has a legitimate need to access a site. Inaddition, should sites be blocked during 1unch hour? Inany case, blocking such sites on the desktop computeris becoming less of a guarantee of increased produc-tivity nowadays (ifit ever was), as more and moreemployees wil1just use their smartphones to accessthese sites anyway.

Sources: Information Commissioners Office, "EmploymentPractices Data Protection Code-Supplementary Guidance" (www.ico.gov.uk/u pload/documents/library / data_protection/practi-caLapplication/ coi_html/ english/ supplementary ~idance/ mon-ítoríngatworkahtml. accessed October 25, 2010); "Spector 360Helps Blackburn Rovers Show Red Card to PC and Internet Abuse,"Snapguard (www.snapguard.co.uk/blackburnjc.html, accessedOctober 25, 2010); "Citizens Advice Bureau Advice Guide, BasicRights at Work," Adviceguide (www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/your_money / employment/basic_rights_at_ work.htm, accessedOctober 25, 2010); "Employee Monitoring in the Workplace: WhatConstitutes 'Personal Data'?" Crowell and Moring (www.crowell.com/NewsEvents/ Newsletter.aspx?id = 654, accessed October 25,2010).

Case contribueâ by Andy fones, Staffordshire Uniuersitu.

downloads unsuitable images, which he later sellsto his friends. He would not have been able todownload the images at home, because you haveinstalled parental control software. Who is toblame for his indiscretion?

4. Why is the digital divide prob1em an ethicaldilemma?